The beauty and the challenge of a tournament format is that anything can happen in a one-game scenario.
The top-seeded Hillsdale College softball team experienced the downside of that reality on the opening day of the G-MAC Tournament on Thursday in Findlay, Ohio.
The Chargers, who drew the bye in the tourney by virtue of their regular season title in the G-MAC, faced off against fourth-seeded Trevecca Nazarene immediately following the Trojans' 5-3 opening round victory over Tiffin earlier that morning, and couldn't blunt Trevecca's momentum as the Trojans took a 2-0 victory to advance and knock Hillsdale into the elimination bracket.
Fresh off a victory over the Dragons, Trevecca came out hot out of the gate, using three hits to plate two runs in the first inning. That 2-0 advantage was a small one, but that would be enough for the Trojans, who allowed just one hit and two total Charger baserunners in the contest.
Senior Reagan Gensiejewski broke up Trevecca's no-hit bid in the third inning with a single, and reached third base after a stolen base and a passed ball, but the Chargers couldn't get her across to narrow the lead, and wouldn't have another baserunner until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Although she gave up the two runs in the first inning, freshman Joni Russell had an extremely strong outing in the loss, striking out seven batters, walking none and holding Trevecca scoreless in the final six innings to give the Chargers a shot to come back.
Hillsdlae (31-19) faces a long road back to contention on Friday after rain delayed an elimination contest scheduled for 3 p.m. on Thursday between the Chargers and second-seeded Ohio Dominican, which dropped into the elimination bracket as well after a 2-1 loss to third-seeded Findlay in the other afternoon game. That postponement means the Chargers will have to win three games in a row on Friday, starting with the matchup against the Panthers, to reach the final on Saturday.
The weather likely will continue to be a complicating factor. The forecast for Friday is not promising, meaning Friday's games could get pushed back to Saturday. The deadline to have all contests finished in conference tournaments to be considered by the NCAA is 6 p.m. Sunday, meaning it could be very tight to get the finals in if there is too much additional delay.
Photo by Gwen Buchhop